Grenadier
This is an infantry unit that throws grenades, Grenadiers are best used against buildings but they are pretty good against infantry and cavalry. Most infantry have a range of six when attacking buildings, but Grenadiers have a range of twelve, so if your civilization has Grenadiers use them. Much like other ranged units, it is best to fight from a distance, they can attack hand to hand, but it is best to keep them at a distance, they are strong against artillery, but weak against light infantry such as Crossbowmen and Skirmishers.

Falconet
This is one of the lighter cannons, Use this cannon to attack large massed groups of slow moving infantry. Do not use these against cavalry or buildings, you will be destroyed. They are not powerful enough to take out buildings and fire too slowly to destroy cavalry.

Abus Gun
This is an artillery unit unique to the Ottoman civilization. It can be used to attack buildings, but you should only use it to attack infantry, the Abus Gun has a long range and good damage, do not attack cavalry with this gun.

Organ Gun
This gun actually looks like a bunch of organ pipes on a rack with wheels; it fires multiple projectiles at groups of massed troops. Like most artillery this cannon is best used against infantry, it is not at all effective against buildings, only use it against infantry.

Mortar
The Mortar is one of the best artillery pieces for destroying buildings; it is not good at destroying anything else. While this artillery piece can attack from a long way away, it moves very slowly, so make sure that it is well guarded before you start bombarding your enemies’ town center. About two or three hits from this monster will take out almost any building, so invest wisely in it.

Fishing Boats
This boat gathers a lot of fish and does rather quickly, but it has no attack and is extremely vulnerable to attack from other ships. Not just ships though, if this boat gets too close to the coast or seaside cliffs cannons will make short work of this boat.

Caravel
This is an all around ship; it can be used for fishing, exploring, combat and even transportation. If your trying to gain control of the ocean early on, this is a good ship to build a few of to gain control of the water. Mind you though, this ship is not all that powerful there are more powerful ships out there that could easily sink this ship.

Galleon/Fluyt
The Fluyt and the Galleon are the same kind of ship, the Dutch just have a different name for their types of Galleons. I don’t personally recommend using this ship at all, it is resistant to fire and can train units, but it is not that powerful and it is rather slow.

Culverin
This cannon is primarily used to counter other artillery, it has a good range but does not have a wide area of effect, and so it does not do well against troops. It does well against ships, but it is mainly for countering other artillery.

Heavy Cannon
This is an all around cannon; it is good at destroying infantry, ships, and good at attacking buildings. Nearly every civilization has this type of cannon. The Mortar is still better at attacking buildings but when it comes to usability nothing beats the heavy cannon.

Great Bombard
This is an artillery unit unique to the Ottoman civilization. These are available only from your home city; so don’t plan your whole attack strategy around these giant cannons. If you do manage to get a couple of these bad boys, they are good cannons all around but because they are very slow to fire and move, you are better off using them to attack buildings.

Rocket
This is an artillery unit unique to the British civilization. They are very erratic. I don’t recommend using these Rockets at all, the British have enough other artillery that you don’t need to use these. If you do decide to use the Rocket, make sure your own troops are not in the vicinity when you fire at the enemy troops, the splash damage will harm your own troops.

Frigate
This is the most powerful warship in the game. It is fast, very powerful and has lots of hit points. It can be expensive to upgrade, but it is worth it. With a couple of fully upgraded Frigates you will rule the ocean. This ship has multiple cannons on both sides of the ship which fire multiple times at the target, mind you though only one side will fire at a time.

Galley
This is a ship unique to the Ottoman civilization. Since the Ottomans don’t have Caravels, they have Galleys instead. It is just as powerful as the Caravel, but it is a lot faster.. The best part is this is the fastest ship in the whole game, almost twice as fast as the Frigate, but don’t get cocky just because it is fast, a fully upgraded Frigate could still blow this ship out of the water.

Monitor
This ship is like having a Mortar that can float on water, it like the Mortar is good at attacking buildings and from a long range, it is not very good at attacking other ships, only use this ship if your enemy is dumb enough to build their buildings close to the coast.